Against the Tide
by LanaLang79
Summary: Derek and Casey have always been rivals, but after being at college for 8 months and only having each other to rely on, a lot has changed. When they head home for Spring Break will they be able keep the relationship that has formed and go against the tide
1. Chapter 1

**Hey ya'll! Yes, I'm starting another story! I know that I'll regret it later when I have a thousand stories that need updating, but I'm trying not to think about that right now! LOL! **

**There's just a couple things that I want to say before you read the first chapter of my story. One: this is my first Life With Derek story, so I'm doing the best that I can with it. And Two: Casey and Derek might seem out-of-character for it, but that's how they have to be written for my story to work! **

**I hope you enjoy the story and PLEASE review!**

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**DISCLAIMER: ****I do not own Life With Derek or anything related to it! This disclaimer goes for all chapters of this story!**

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**Against the Tide**

_**Chapter One:**_

Casey MacDonald stared at the blur of trees that passed as the SUV moved down the four-lane highway. The ride back home was going much too fast. She was returning home from college for Spring Break and she was in no way excited for the reunion with her family. It had been nearly eight months since her and her step-brother, Derek Venturi, had stepped out of their two-story house in Vancouver and moved to the United States to attend college. Casey remembered how she had been reluctant to leave her mom and her sister behind to move miles from home, especially with her pain-in-the-butt step-brother Derek. But, a lot had happened in eight months. More than she had ever thought possible.

She glanced down and gently rubbed one of her fingers. For four months a small object had occupied that spot, but now her finger was bare.

Releasing her finger, she shook her head slowly. How had they let it happen? How would they face their family carrying the weight of such a large secret? Casey knew that their family would have to find out sometime, but she and Derek had decided to wait. They agreed that now wasn't the best time to let the cat out of the bag. But when would be the best time? Maybe they were just avoiding the conflict that they knew would follow the unveiling of their scandalous secret. Scandalous? Was that really what it was? It would seem that way to many people, but legally it was perfectly all right. Wasn't it?

Casey turned her head towards the driver's seat and studied Derek. One of his hands rested on the steering wheel, guiding the car along the road, while his other arm sat next to hers on the armrest. His sandy brown hair was still the length it had been when they had left for college the year before, but there was a change in his face, in his eyes. Maybe it was something only Casey noticed, but that was probably because Casey had been the one to cause that change in him. It was a softer, more loving look than the old Derek had worn. And deep down Casey knew how much she would miss that look while they were on Spring Break with their family. They had decided that, for now, they would be the old Casey and Derek. The two teens who fought constantly and never laid off of the sarcasm.

Casey sighed and her gaze drifted back to her hand. How in the world was she going to handle this?

"You okay?"

Casey's eyes reached back up to look at Derek. The concern in his eyes touched her more than she would like to admit. He had changed so much in the last eight months. Well, she should say that **they **had changed so much.

She shrugged slightly. "I guess."

Derek entangled his spare hand with hers and gave it a light squeeze. "We're gonna get through this, Case, don't worry."

The small smile that he offered her seemed to reassure her more than his words ever could. She nodded slowly and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "I know, I just feel like we're flies caught in a web and either way we turn there's a spider headed our way."

Casey heard him chuckle softly and she lifted her head to look at his face. "What?"

Derek gave her forehead a light kiss. "You always did have a way with words."

She couldn't help but smile now and she allowed her head to fall back against the strength of his shoulder. "When we were younger all of my words seemed to annoy you and cause a fight." She let out a small laugh. "Listen to me, saying things like 'when we were younger'. It was only eight months ago that we acted like that. How could we have changed so much in such a short time?"

"Maybe we didn't," Derek answered simply.

Casey felt her eyebrows knit together as she played his words a second time in her head. "What do you mean?"  
Derek didn't answer right away. He appeared to be choosing his words and Casey realized that that was another thing that was different about him. He thought before he spoke.

"Maybe this feeling has been there for a while now, we just didn't completely discover it until we were out on our own…….until we only had each other to rely on."

Casey considered his answer carefully before giving a slight nod. "I guess that makes sense."

She remembered the first time that she had noticed her attraction to Derek. The discovery had been shocking and at first she had wanted to deny it.

Derek had been attempting to cook some dinner for himself, while Casey had gone to her room to study. She had just finished writing an essay that was due the next day, when there was a loud banging followed by a painful yelp. She rushed into the kitchen and found the oven door wide open, pepperoni pizza splattered across the floor, and Derek with his hand under cold water. Casey hurried to his side and gasped at the big red mark that ran across his palm.

"Derek, are you okay? What happened?"

He bit his lip, obviously in pain and managed to say, "I'd rather not explain."

Too worried to push for an explanation, she ordered him to sit down and went to one of the cupboards for the first-aid kit.

"I can do it," Derek said firmly as she reached for his hand.

Casey shook her head. "I don't think so." She reached for his hand again and, after hesitating, he reluctantly allowed her to take it. Casey pulled some burn cream from the box that sat on the table and read the instructions before unscrewing the cap. "This is going to sting at first, but then it'll just feel like you're holding ice on your hand," she said, almost mimicking what was written on the outside of the small container.

Derek smirked, but the look in his eyes showed that his hand was still giving him pain. "Well, don't you make the perfect little doctor," he noted sarcastically, trying to give a tough guy façade and annoy his temporary nurse.

But, neither his smirk nor his comment took her attention away from what she was doing. She put some of the cream on a tab and gently ran it across the burn that seemed to encompass his palm. Casey felt Derek jerk slightly when it first made contact with his skin, but after that he held still.

When she applied as much as was directed, she wrapped the injury in gauze and used medical tape to hold it there. "All better?" she asked calmly, but when she lifted her eyes, she realized how close their heads were and her heart began to beat faster than usual. She met his gaze and, as if their heads were being pulled by magnets, they slowly moved even closer to each other. Their lips were less than an inch apart when a knock sounded on the door. Casey jerked away and released his hand. "I-I'd better get that," she stuttered, not being able to exit the kitchen fast enough.

Before, they had just had that brother/sister relationship, so sharing an apartment didn't seem like a big deal, but after that incident it didn't take long for them to decide that they wanted their own apartments.

But, even after Casey moved out, they still couldn't seem to escape the events of that night, so they had ended up where they were now, heading home with the secret of their romance following them as if it was the taillight on their car.

Casey sighed audibly and turned over Derek's hand that held hers. There was still a scar from the burn and it reminded them both of the first time they had found the attraction that had to have been laying there for months.

Derek followed her gaze to his hand and one side of his mouth lifted in a half grin. "Do you want some pizza?"

She tilted her head back to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. "Pepperoni?"

They shared a laugh and for the next couple hours they forgot that they were on their way home, forgot that they would soon have to pretend to hate each other. That is, they forgot until they were sitting in their parents' driveway.

Casey exchanged a nervous glance with Derek and he nodded reassuringly.

"Ready?" came his one word question.

She nodded and they both exited the car, ready as they could be for what lied ahead.

**So, how was it? Good, bad, okay? PLEASE review and tell me if you think I should continue, cause I'm real nervous about this!**

**LanaLang79**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Ya'll are very much appreciated! I hope you like this chapter too! Please R&R!**

**Enjoy!**

_**Chapter Two:**_

Casey and Derek stepped inside the house and were swarmed with a million old memories. They remembered fighting over the bathroom, fighting over cereal, fighting over the remote. Casey almost smiled at the last one. She remembered one time in particular when they had fought over the remote. She had ended up falling off the back of the couch and twisting her ankle. She shook her head at the memory and glanced about the living room. Not much had changed since the last time they had been there, except…

"My chair," Derek almost moaned.

Casey followed his gaze and noticed the new furniture that rested opposite the TV. She frowned. Had they actually gotten rid of Derek's chair? She knew that it was just a piece of furniture, but it meant a lot to Derek.

She was about so say something when there was a shrill shriek. Instinctively she covered he ears and looked up to see Marti standing at the top of the steps. Her hair was longer, running down to the middle of her back and she wore a jean jumper over a short sleeved shirt.

"Smerek!" the younger girl yelled, almost flying down the steps to cover the distance between herself and her brother.

"Smarti!" Derek took his sister in his arms and gave her a bear hug.

In no time at all the rest of the family was circling their arrivals. Lizzie had also allowed her hair to grow longer and her height had increased, but only about an inch or so. Edwin's voice had grown a little deeper and she smiled as Derek locked him in a headlock and gave him a nuggie. Edwin wasn't too pleased with his brother's greeting and he scowled, combing his ruffled hair with his fingers.

Her mom and George looked just about the same, except for a couple gray hairs, but she didn't find the need to point that out to them.

Casey gave her mom a long hug. "I missed you," she whispered in the older woman's ear.

"I missed you too, Case," Nora replied and then pulled back to look her daughter up and down. "How in the world do you look so much older? I don't understand how you can change so much in just eight months."

_You have no idea,_ Casey felt like saying, but decided to hold back and merely shrugged in response. She glanced over at Derek who caught her gaze and gave her a short wink, before moving his eyes to his dad.

"So, how have our rivals been getting along?" George asked, motioning for everyone to sit down in the living room.

"Better than ever," came Derek's reply. Which was actually true, but his sarcastic tone told their parents otherwise.

Casey wasn't ready to start a 'pretend' fight with Derek, so just rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "So, what'd you do with the old living room furniture?"

"Yeah, where's my chair?!?"

Derek's angry voice almost made Casey jump, she had forgotten what it was like to hear him yell and hearing it now made her very grateful that he had stopped.

Nora laughed lightly and Derek turned his glare in her direction.

"I wanted to get rid of it, but your dad said that you wouldn't be too happy if we did that, so we got the new furniture and put the chair in your room," Nora explained, an amused smile playing on her lips.

Derek didn't waste any time going upstairs, obviously excited to reunite with the piece of furniture that he was so fond of.

Casey shook her head and stood up. "I'm going to take my bags upstairs and unpack."

George stood and picked up Derek's bags. "We were thinking about going out for pizza, how does that sound?"

"Why don't you guys go and then bring some back for me? I'm tired from the trip, so I think I would just like to relax in my room for a while," Casey replied slowly, hoping that she wouldn't offend anyone.

Nora patted her daughter's arm. "I understand. Maybe we'll just have the pizza delivered."

"No," Marti objected. "I want to play the video games at the pizza place!"

"You guys go ahead. I'll be fine here," Casey assured her mom as she began to ascend the stairs.

Nora bit her lip. "If you're sure, Case." She turned to George. "Since you're taking his bags up, will you ask Derek if he would like to go with us?"

George nodded and followed Casey up the stairs.

Casey reached the second floor of their house and smiled at the familiarity of it. She was glad that her mom and George hadn't changed much of the house since they left.

When she reached her room, her smile grew even wider. Everything was how she had left it. She dropped her bags and collapsed onto her twin sized bed. The blankets still smelled of the raspberry scented lotion that she used to put on before going to bed every night. She had loved that smell when she was in high school, but now she loved things that were rose scented; she had ever since Derek bought her a bottle of rose scented perfume right after they had started dating.

Casey had a sudden longing to be with Derek, to have his arms wrapped around her waist the way that he often did before kissing her. She sighed audibly, these two weeks for Spring Break were going to be harder than she had even imagined.

She sat up and looked about her room. A picture on the nightstand suddenly caught her attention and her eyes widened. The picture was of a guy Derek's age with blond hair and blue eyes. _Sam! _She couldn't believe that the picture was still there. Hurriedly she rushed over to her nightstand and picked up the picture, shoving it into the drawer. There was no way Derek was going to know that it had still been there. He wouldn't be upset with her, but he would tease her to no end.

There was a soft knock from the doorway and she turned to see her mother standing there.

"Yeah?" Casey asked, sitting back down on her bed.

"We're leaving now, are you sure that you don't want to come?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah, I'm really tired and nothing sounds better right now than a nice warm bath."

A smile pulled up the corners of her mother's mouth. "All right. Derek declined our invitation too, so he should be in his room. We'll be home in an hour or so."

Casey tried to hide the excitement she felt about Derek remaining at home with her. "Okay, I'll be here," she replied, returning her mother's smile.

Nora started to leave, but then stopped to look back at her daughter. "And, Case?"

"Yeah?"

"It's nice to have you home, even if it's just for a couple of weeks."

Casey stood and hugged her mom briefly. "Thanks, Mom, it's good to be home."

Ten minutes later the rest of the family was gone and Casey was standing in front of Derek's bedroom door. Before knocking she thought of how she used to just barge in and how that had always caused a fight. Why had they hated each other so much going through high school? They were both so much happier now than back then. Why hadn't they reconciled sooner?

Casey fisted her hand and lifted it to knock on the door, but the door was opened before her knuckles even made contact with the wood. She smiled when she saw the grin that instantly appeared on Derek's face.

"I was just coming to see you," he said, stepping into the hall and wrapping his arms around her petite figure.

Casey clasped her hands behind his neck and leaned into him. "It's only been an hour since we were alone together, but it seems like forever."

Derek nodded. "I feel like I can't even look at you, cause I'm afraid that as soon as I do, everyone will see how we feel and our whole secret will be blown."

"This is a lot harder than I expected it to be," Casey admitted, a sigh escaping her lips.

"We're just not used to the hating each other thing anymore. And we've been alone together a lot in the last couple of months, so it's just different. Maybe we'll adjust."

Casey's eyebrows rose and she shook her head. "I hope not. I don't want to ever hate you again and I plan to find several times that we can be alone together while we're here." She ran her fingers through his silky hair before pulling his head down so that their lips could meet. They slowly deepened the kiss and Derek pulled her closer to him.

Neither of them wanted to pull away, but finally Casey did, desperately needing a breath. She smiled slowly and took his hand. "Let's go watch some TV."

They made their way down to the living room and sat down on the couch. Casey made herself cozy against Derek's chest and she inhaled, loving the smell that the aftershave he used gave him.

If only they could cuddle like this in front of their family. If only their family knew the truth. About a million of those ran through her head before she finally forced herself to pay attention to the TV. Hockey. That's one thing about Derek that hadn't changed. He still loved hockey. She didn't mind though. He had changed in all the important ways and that's what made her the most happy. If he still watched hockey sometimes, than that was absolutely okay with her. She wasn't going to complain.

Casey tilted her head back and planted a light kiss on Derek's jaw. He looked down at her and a contented smile crossed his face.

"I love you, Case," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

She reached up and ran her fingers across his cheek, memorizing all the lines of his face. "I love you too."

She leaned back against his chest and within fifteen minutes Derek felt her body relax completely. He looked down and chuckled softly when he saw that she was asleep. Carefully he maneuvered out from under her and placed a pillow under her head and a blanket over her sleeping body.

A lock of her brown hair escaped and slid over her closed eyelids. He gently tucked it back behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her forehead for the second time. "Goodnight, Casey." He gave her one last look before turning and jogging up the stairs to his bedroom.

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**I usually re-read chapters before putting them up, but I was in a hurry, so I didn't, sorry if there were any mistakes! PLEASE REVIEW! **

**LanaLang79**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

Casey stifled a yawn as she descended the steps that led to the first floor of the house. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was only a little past six, she guessed that no one else would be up yet. But a sound rang from the kitchen, proving her assumption wrong. She sighed audibly; disappointed that she would have to talk with someone this early in the morning.

Hesitantly Casey started to push open the swinging door that led to the kitchen. To her surprise, and delight, Derek stood at the other end of the room pouring himself a cup of coffee.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth and she quietly walked over to him and wrapper her arms around his waist. "Good morning," she whispered.

Derek, who had obviously not heard her come in, jumped slightly at her contact. Then he turned around, returning her smile. "Good morning." He leaned down slowly and kissed her forehead.

"What are you doing up this early? Back at home you didn't get up before nine unless you had to," Casey said, her expression showing her amusement. She remembered all the times she had to go into their bedroom and practically drag her husband out of bed.

Derek pulled her closer and leaned his forehead against hers. "Well, I'm pretty sure that no one else will be getting up this early, so I thought that it'd give us some time together before we start pulling our façade."

Casey playfully slapped his arm and moved out of his embrace to get herself a mug. "Some things never change."

Derek frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I can tell that deep down there's still some of your old mischievous ways." She studied Derek's face and then laughed slightly. "Don't worry, Derek, right now it comes in handy." Casey leaned towards him and gave him a soft kiss, before pouring herself some of the coffee that he had made. "Are you going to make me breakfast too?"

"If you'll be satisfied with eggs. You know that's the only thing I can make."

Casey's smile widened. "Eggs are fine." She turned towards the door and started to push it open. "I'm going to go brush my hair. I'll be right back." She waited for Derek's nod and then left the room.

When she returned, Derek was sliding the eggs onto two plates and pouring two cups of orange juice. "Wow, that was fast."

Derek raised an eyebrow at her and looked at the clock. "Not that fast. You've been brushing your hair for over fifteen minutes," he informed her.

She immediately saw the amusement in Derek's eyes and smiled, shaking her head. "You guys will never understand. It only takes you like five seconds to brush yours."

She sat down at the table and Derek placed her plate in front of her. The smile on her face disappeared instantly as she felt a wave of nausea hit her.

Jumping from the table, Casey ran out the kitchen door and up the stairs to the bathroom. She made it there just in time to lose all of the food she had eaten in the last twenty-four hours.

Hearing a noise at the door, she looked up expecting to see Derek, but instead her mother stood there, a yawn escaping her lips.

"Honey, are you okay?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

Casey nodded slowly. "I think so. My stomach just feels a bit upset."

Nora walked over to her daughter and patted her shoulder. "I hope you don't have the flu. That wouldn't make this a very enjoyable vacation."

Casey nodded again, this time agreeing with her mom. She was about to reply, but she heard more noise at the door and noticed Derek standing awkwardly right outside the bathroom.

"I, uh….I heard something and wondered what was going on," he lied, giving Casey a worried glance, unseen by Nora.

"Everything's fine, Derek, Casey just has an upset stomach." Nora turned back to Casey. "Maybe you should go lie down."

"I will," Casey promised. "Why don't you go back to bed before George comes to see what's wrong too."

Nora smiled in understanding and exited the bathroom.

Casey waited to hear the latch of their bedroom door click and then looked over at Derek. "Sorry about my impromptu exit. I didn't really find it appropriate to puke all over the nice breakfast you made me," she whispered, attempting to smile, but failing miserably.

Her humor didn't fool Derek either. "Are you okay?"

Casey was about to reply that she was fine, but was interrupted when more nausea hit her. She turned back to the toilet and cringed as she lost even more of her most recent meals. "I don't know what's wrong," she finally said, her voice quiet. "I felt fine when I got up."

Derek touched her shoulder. "Get some more rest, I'm sure it's nothing."

"Okay." She brushed her thumb across his cheek. "Sorry I couldn't eat the eggs you made me."

Derek lifted one corner of his mouth in a half smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure that I'll be able to eat both of our portions."

This brought a smile to Casey's face and she nodded. "I'm sure you can." She stepped past him and entered her bedroom. The bed looked all too welcoming and she collapsed onto it with a sigh. She already had to worry about being married and now she had to deal with being sick. Why was everything attacking her at once?

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Waking a couple hours later, Casey instinctively reached out for Derek, but found the other side of the bed empty. Sighing, she slowly sat up, a yawn escaping her lips. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth and noticed her ring less finger for the thousandth time since they had come on this trip. If she looked real close at the designated finger, she could see the outline of where her ring had rested since she had said "I do." Casey smiled at the memory of her wedding. It had been one of the happiest moments of her life. Now, though, she felt lost. She knew deep down that they shouldn't be hiding their marriage from their parents, but what were they supposed to do? If they did tell her mother and George, she had a feeling that they wouldn't be taking it very well. But she felt as though she had to tell someone. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she considered the people she could tell. Emily. No, she didn't think her friend would like the idea any more than her parents had. After all, she had had a crush on Derek since before Casey's mom had married Derek's dad. And how could she tell Emily that she had married the guy that she used to despise? No, that just wouldn't work. The next name that came to mind was Lizzie. She had told her younger sister almost everything when they were younger. Surely she could trust her with this one.

A knock on the door echoed through the room, causing Casey to jerk in surprise. "Uh…come in," she called quickly.

The door opened and Lizzie appeared. "Hey, Case," she greeted. "Mom told me that you weren't feeling well this morning."

Casey patted the empty spot on the bed and Lizzie sat down next to her. "Yeah, I'm hoping I don't have a bug."

A sympathetic smile crossed the younger sister's face. "That wouldn't be too great. I mean, you already have to spend all this time with Derek. The flu would be the last thing you would want right now."

Casey hesitated. Should she tell her sister how much things had changed since she and Derek had moved away to college? "Uh…actually I wanted to tell you something." She paused uncertainly. "It's about me and Derek."

The bedroom door swung open suddenly. "Lizzie, breakfast is ready," Edwin said.

"I'll be there in a minute." Lizzie waved her hand at him as if to shoo away a fly.

Marty brushed past her older brother and hurried over to Lizzie, grabbing her hand. "Come see the breakfast that I helped Nora with."

"Give me and Casey one more minute."

"No, I want you to come now," Marty whined, tugging Lizzie by the arm.

Casey shook her head. Even thought Marty was getting older she still had the same old whine. She quietly wondered if anyone would ever do something about it before it turned into something bigger.

Lizzie stood and stepped in the direction of the door. She glanced over her shoulder at Casey, curiosity showing in her eyes. "Later?"

Casey nodded. "Later."

When her three siblings had emptied the room and closed the door, Casey was alone again. She had been so close to telling Lizzie and now she knew that she couldn't change her mind. The last look that her sister had given her had told her that. But would Lizzie understand the way that she felt about Derek? It had only been eight months since the last time that her family had seen them, yet pretty much everything about the two oldest children had changed, including their feelings towards each other. Casey couldn't help but feel that when the truth finally was revealed that everyone would think her and Derek's relationship was just a big joke. How would they convince them otherwise?

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**It's been WAY, WAY too long since I've updated this!! Sorry everyone!! I want to give a thank you to _nikkiAZTS _for the PM that got me to write this chapter. I've been having really bad writer's block for this, so it's always nice when fans send encouraging PMs to me!! Thanks again, _nikkiAZTS_!!**

**PLEASE REVIEW(again encouragement is a lot of help)!!**

**LanaLang79**


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